The longest operating bakery in San Francisco’s Chinatown, Eastern Bakery has graced the city since 1924. The cash-only spot is a local favorite, especially for its very popular signature coffee crunch cake: soft yellow sponge cake topped with toffee bits and mocha cream. During Mid-Autumn Festival (or any time of year, really), pick up a lotus-paste mooncake or three. While many bakeries import their mooncakes, Eastern makes them fresh in-house.

You can’t visit Pineapple King Bakery without picking up one of its signature pineapple buns. Popular in Hong Kong, the soft, airy rolls don’t actually contain any of the tropical fruit, but get their name from the pineapple-looking pattern that forms on the sugary, buttery top after they’re baked. The buns are customarily sliced in half before a slab of butter is wedged inside (Pineapple King also has guava butter as an option).

Good Mong Kok always has a line out the door, partly because the tiny takeout-only bakery has limited standing room, but mostly because the grab-and-go dim sum options are some of the best in the city. Char siu (barbecue pork) buns, turnip cakes, shrimp dumplings, and sticky rice wrapped in lotus leaf stay warm inside giant steamer baskets until they’re snapped up.

It’s easy to miss this small cash-only bakery in Chinatown. But once you spot the mooncakes photos taped to the window, you’ll know you’re in the right place. The face-sized pineapple buns are always squishy and fresh, and usually still warm when they’re pulled off the baking trays and packed neatly into pink boxes. The glass case at the front is a gleaming pastry utopia of egg tarts, baked char siu bao, and sponge cakes that puff up like hot air balloons.

This legendary factory in Chinatown has been hand-making about 10,000 fresh fortune cookies a day since 1962 and was originally founded by Nancy Chan (her son Kevin now manages the factory). The fortune cookies at the factory far surpass what you usually get at Chinese restaurants: They’re extra crispy and have a nice vanilla scent. But we usually opt for the green tea-flavored ones, or the chocolate-dipped, sprinkle-covered variety, which always sparks joy and reminds us of birthday parties.

The draw at AA Bakery and Cafe is the sheer variety—the large cases are stocked with so many colorful cakes, savory breads, and cream-filled pastries. From buns to cookies to tarts, this shop makes it all. The filling amounts are generous (see: the loaded ham-and-corn and curry beef buns), and the walnut cookies are bigger than the palm of our hand. The other reason to swing by this Chinatown bakery is the mousse and fruit-filled cakes (mango and strawberry are stand-outs).

The standout at Yummy Bakery is the egg white custard tarts. Though there are other Chinese-style bakeries in Chinatown that sell them, Yummy arguably makes the, well, yummiest ones: the custard is soft, airy, and creamy, albeit a little sweeter than their yolky counterparts. Yummy’s crust also leans on the crumblier side, almost like a hybrid between shortbread and puff pastry.

The signature pastry at this bakery in Parkside is the Macau-style egg custard tarts, which are similar to Portuguese custard tarts, or pasteis de nata: lightly scorched top, smooth and milky custard, and very flaky crusts. Mr. Bread prepares Cantonese-style egg custard tarts, too, so you can order both to taste the difference. True to its name, the shop also sells almost two dozen types of sweet and savory bread buns.